Where does this attitude from young people come from?

[KingRuby]

I don't think parenting is the only cause here. Society has spent a lot of time empowering youth, making sure they know what their rights are and telling them how much respect they deserve. The missing element is that they aren't informed that with rights come responsibilities and respect should be earned. Not to mention the fact that their rights end when they infringe upon the rights of others.

So much could be learned just from the old "golden rule"- Treat others as you would have them treat you.

 

[smile86]

Where I live the 'chavs' spend all their benefits on alcohol and can get very violent. The problem is nobody does anything about it, I think the police have given up on our estate , somebody has to be seriously injured before anything gets done. Looking at these people many of them are around my age, late teens, 20's, their parents are just older versions of them. It's sad because that's obviously the shining example they've been set growing up, that being civil to others will get you nowhere so lets just do what we want, and why should we bother working or going to school, and if it feels good do it. I'm terrified of some of the very threatening groups, I park my car 10 minutes walk from my house after all my windows were smashed in and faggot was sprayed on the boot . They're bored and looking for trouble to cause and attention to gain.

 

[BenF]

Perhaps not these days but go back historically to the 60's and 70's and the quaintessential English man was mild mannered, polite, spoke correctly, always pulled the chair out for ladies, always opened doors etc. Took his hat off when entering a house. Children were to be seen and not heard. Its all true - 40 years ago, England WAS factually more polite and mannerly than it is today.

Pffft - have you been watching Hearbeat again?

You sound like you should be sitting in a nursing home wearing tin-pot war medals whilst berating the 'youngsters of today'.

Anyway...

At the end of the day, there have been demonised groups in every generation - the mods, the rockers, the punks, the goths, the metal-heads etc. etc. the chavs today are no different.

www.chavscum.com has some useful resources for you.

 

[gaddou]

there is no more respect for older people. you can see on buses young people flunk on a bench and an old lady just trying to stand up and none of them would give her their seat. It is like they were saying Why did you have to leave your house. So I will teach you. Parents are the first not to ask their child to give their seat. even if you are only 6 or 7 years old you can stand on a bus. It make me so mad. I often tell them to stand. And I do not care if they talk back.

 

[NedNickerson]

Could it be that we're finally seeing the children of the generation who didn't believe in spanking...?

 

[Paws]

I rather think these are the children that got beaten by their parents.

Edit: attention whoring.

 

[levenshulme31]

I think its more the post-Margaret (there's no such thing as society) Thatcher generation. If you make selfishness a virtue, don't be surprised when it becomes the norm.

 

[BenF]

I think its more the post-Margaret (there's no such thing as society) Thatcher generation. If you make selfishness a virtue, don't be surprised when it becomes the norm.

Nice one - if in doubt, blame Thatcher (95% of the time you'll be right).

 

[slobone]

Stereotypes ahoy! All Americans are fat. All Asian men have tiny dicks and all black men have huge dicks.

I'm British, and I wouldn't say that British people are necessarily "more mannerly" than other nationalities.

No doubt that is a stereotype -- sorry if you found it an insulting one. Of course I realize English life isn't what we see on imported TV shows, and the England of today isn't the same as it used to be.

And it might even be that the whole world is becoming more American every day -- but I hope not (except for the fat part -- I like fat guys ).

 

[NameTaken]

Bro... if you want to know the answer.. read the original post you wrote! A chav at any age would most likely act that way, not just the young ones, because that's just what chavs do most of the time, disrespect people. It's not most of or all young people today, and I'm sure it desn't happen as often as you think, it's just that when it does happen those are the times you remember rather than all the times it could have happened, but didn't.

Think about it, you could ask a 16 year old gu yto moe, and he could move for you, and you'd think nothing of it and go on with your life and forget about it. If he was an ass about it and chose not to, you'd remember it!

 

[pausanias_usa]

So does this mean we have had a recent Nominous sighting?

<just joking 8')>

He's one chav I can learn to love.

 

[hunky]

You really want to know what the real cause of this all is?
Too much freedom.

 

[duroc5088]

It's bad parenting, more often than not.

There should be a licence to have children!

I'll go with ^ that.

Too many spoiled kids that get everything they want.

 

[teh_nathan]

I had that attitude for a few years when I was a teenager, it quickly faded.

 

[Snade]

Testosterone wins out over theology, politics, and common sense every time. Young men tend to do the extreme things they do for the same reason a dog licks its butt... because it can.

 

[iflookscouldkill]

I hate people my own age...and I'm 19

 

[NineOfClubs]

I'm British, and I wouldn't say that British people are necessarily "more mannerly" than other nationalities.

In fact, a friend who recently returned from there said people in the British Isles aren't "friendly" at all, in the American sense. No "thank you" "please" etc.. If you attempt it on them, he said, you're regarded as a Martian might be...

 

[NineOfClubs]

People here seem to be over worked, underpaid and over taxed.. its one constant rat race..

Funny, Joe, that's how nearly everyone in the US feels.

But thanks for your input, and I think I already knew that you'd say "please" and "thanks". And I thank you for that!

BTW, what's a swade?

 

[slobone]

In fact, a friend who recently returned from there said people in the British Isles aren't "friendly" at all, in the American sense. No "thank you" "please" etc.. If you attempt it on them, he said, you're regarded as a Martian might be...

You have to make a distinction between "manners," much cultivated (if I may indulge in a stereotype) in Europe, and "friendliness," which is what we believe in here in the good ol' USA.

You can be very friendly and still be rude as hell. In fact, you're almost bound to be. I remember being in a grocery store in Washington state, and the checker was, in a perfectly cheerful way, asking all kinds of (what I considered) very intrusive questions. "Where are you from? ... What do you do for a living? ..." I got out of there before she got to "How much do you make?".

This would all be considered highly improper anywhere in Europe.

It's also possible to be extra-polite and unkind at the same time. In fact there's a particular style of perfectly correct politeness that's specially designed to make the other person feel like shit. I even know some people here in the US who practice it.

But from what I've gathered from the alt.usage.english newsgroup over the years, British people don't necessarily indulge in all the inane chitchat that Americans do.

Typical "conversation" in an American store:

Clerk (handing you the receipt): Thank you!
Customer: Thank you!
Clerk: You're welcome! You have a nice day now!
Customer: Thank you, you too!
Clerk: Bye now!

(This is after buying some paper towels and a candy bar).

An exchange like that would be impossible in England, from what I understand. Any actual Brits care to weigh in on this?

 

[NedNickerson]

Listen to their comments. Check this out:

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1155291074/Running_Through_Wet_Cement

I know those workers were pissed, because once cement starts to dry and harden, it's almost impossible to fix in situations like this. I remember when I was a boy about 9 years old, I wrote my name in the wet cement on a sidewalk repair job, and the guy doing the job caught me. He was so angry and yelled at me so loud, he nearly scared the crap out of me...